Ads on Radio, Web Call for Weiner to Step Down

The ad above is part of a campaign calling for Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign, paid for by a New Jersey Republican.

A wealthy New Jersey newspaper publisher who lost a bid for Congress last year has launched an ad campaign urging Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign.

Diane Gooch, a Republican and publisher of a weekly newspaper in Red Bank, N.J., is calling for Weiner’s resignation in an ad at the top of the Drudge Report website and in a commercial that aired Friday morning during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s weekly radio show. An aide to Weiner declined Friday to comment on the campaign.

On her website, Gooch calls the congressman a “liar,” a “cheater” and a “disgrace,” insisting that he leave the “People’s House immediately.”

Gooch is spending just under $50,000 on the campaign, with ads on radio and the Internet, according to an aide. The ads are being paid for by her political action committee, Strong New Jersey, which she funds personally, Gooch said in an interview.

“I did it because I’m really kind of fed up with the way politicians are behaving,” she said. “I think we have to raise the bar.”

Weiner admitted this week that he engaged in lewd online exchanges with six women, after repeatedly lying about his activities as part of a botched cover-up. A former New York City Council member, the Democratic politician has represented a swath of Brooklyn and Queens in Congress since 1999.

“Congress should represent the best in America, not the worst. Our representatives should be people we look up to, not despise. They should teach our children the right lessons, not the wrong ones,” Gooch wrote on her website. “Honesty and integrity are too important.”

Last year, Gooch lost her bid for the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s sixth congressional district to Tea Party favorite Anna Little. Little lost to incumbent Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat.

In a tearful news conference on Monday, Weiner repeatedly apologized to his wife, Huma Abedin, who is a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as his supporters, his constituents, members of the media and the public. Weiner said he would not resign and sought forgiveness for what he called “terrible judgment and actions.”